Huawei Watch

This gorgeous-looking smartwatch will turn a few heads

Huawei’s Watch may not have the most inspiring name, but when it looks this good, it doesn’t matter. Our review model (priced £289) came with leather straps, while a watch with metal straps

(pictured above) will set you back £329. That’s more expensive than an Apple Watch Sport, which comes with a rubber band, but more importantly, the Huawei Watch is the most expensive Android Wear smartwatch around. This is a bit of a problem because although it’s arguably the best looking, it doesn’t offer anything which rivals don’t when it comes to hardware or software.

Design

Our review sample had a silver body, though the company’s black and gold designs look just as good. There are also two straps to choose from: leather or stainless steel. Interestingly, Huawei has placed the physical button at two o’clock rather than three, which makes sense to us – you don’t need to twist your wrist as much to push it.

Like many smartwatches, the Huawei Watch is big, so you’ve got to be prepared for this. It’s a shame that the company hasn’t followed Apple’s lead and produced two sizes, including one for those with smaller wrists. The stainless steel case and sapphire crystal front look great, even if it is a bit chunky at 11.3mm. We’re used to some Huawei devices being cheap and made from plastic, but this certainly isn’t the case here.

It’s easily one of the most premium and desirable Android Wear wearables around, and indeed smartwatches in general – it can pass for a stylish regular wrist watch. Those tiny bezels play a big part in the wow factor and this is definitely a head-turner.

As well as looking great, it has an IP67 rating, so is dust-proof and will survive being dunked in up to 1m of water for a maximum of 30 minutes.

Hardware

The Huawei Watch fits in with the standard set of hardware for Android Wear devices. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 4GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM and Bluetooth 4.1. It also has various sensors, including an accelerometer, barometer and heart-rate monitor.

The screen, however, is a little larger than rivals such as the LG G Watch R at 1.4in, but it’s smaller than the Motorola Moto 360, so it’s not the biggest around. What’s notable is the 400x400 resolution, which means it has the highest pixel density of any Android Wear device at 286ppi.

Round screens are becoming the norm for smartwatches, with a few exceptions such as the Sony Smartwatch 3. Huawei follows this trend, but doesn’t have the ‘flat tyre’ effect found on Motorola’s 360, which is still a sticking point even with the new 2015 version.

The display looks great, offers plenty of brightness should you need it, and it’s also nice and responsive. The issue is that how you choose to use the screen has a big impact on battery life.

By default, the display is set to always on, although it will dim and change the watch face to a stripped back version. According

to Huawei, the battery will last roughly two days. However, set the screen to switch itself off and you’ll more than double the battery life.

Leaving it set to always on wouldn’t be so bad if the charger was easy to use, but it’s not. It’s not a stand and although it attaches magnetically, the metal contacts don’t always sit properly, so occasionally we thought the watch was charging when it wasn’t.

Moving on to fitness tracking and the Huawei Watch comes preloaded with Google Fit, as you’d expect, but also the firm’s own offering, Daily Tracking. This does the same job, but has a nicer interface. The heart-rate monitor, like pretty much every watch with this feature, is hit-and-miss as to whether it can take a reading successfully. We often found we had to push the watch into our wrist to get it to work properly. You’ll want a dedicated fitness watch if this is important.

That’s a shame, but perhaps not as much as the fact that it doesn’t have GPS, so those wanting proper tracking for running will need to look elsewhere. However, the Huawei Watch is compatible with Jawbone Up bands if you don’t mind wearing a second device.

Software

As we mention in all our Android Wear watch reviews, the experience is in essence the same across the board. The price, hardware and design are all important when it comes to choosing them, but it’s worth pointing out that the Huawei Watch comes with the latest version of the software. This means you get Wi-Fi support to use the device

without a companion phone, and the new layout, which provides a proper app launcher and contacts list. You also have the option to draw emojis if that’s your kind of thing (it actually works really well if you can think of what to draw), but more important is its iOS compatibility. This means you can use the Huawei Watch with an iPhone – just bear in mind that it’s by no means the same experience compared to using it with an Android phone.

Other than the usual Google Now card-style system of notifications, the Huawei Watch comes with a huge range of watch faces built in and, of course, you can download more, as well as the apps you want to use.

Verdict

At a lower price, the Huawei Watch would be the best Android Wear smartwatch on the market, but it’s a little too pricey for our liking. Although it’s absolutely stunning and the build quality is exquisite, the watch lacks GPS, the heart-rate monitor is disappointing and the charger is fiddly. Chris Martin

Specifications

Android Wear OS 1.4in (400x400) screen 1.2GHz processor 512MB RAM 4GB storage Heart-rate monitor Wi-Fi Bluetooth IP67 11.3mm